


She's Got a Way

by mcgarrygirl78



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-03-22
Updated: 2005-03-22
Packaged: 2019-05-31 03:39:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15111017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mcgarrygirl78/pseuds/mcgarrygirl78
Summary: Firstly, I wasn't looking for love when I found it with her.  Secondly, I don't even know how to function in this 21st century mangled world of acquainting oneself with the fairer sex





	She's Got a Way

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**She's Got a Way**

**by: Montiese**

**Character(s):** CJ, Leo  
**Pairing(s):** CJ/Leo  
**Category(s):** General   
**Rating:** CHILD  
**Disclaimer:** The rights to the song belong to Billy Joel, but it is one of my favorites.  
**Summary:** Firstly, I wasn’t looking for love when I found it with her. Secondly, I don’t even know how to function in this 21st century mangled world of acquainting oneself with the fairer sex  


_She’s Got a Way_ , I don’t know if there is a better song to describe her. Sometimes I feel that Billy Joel must have been intimately acquainted with my wife. If he wasn’t he could never write a song of such beauty and purpose. Am I being overindulgent? Probably, but it is all her fault. Sometimes I let my mind wander and I think about what life would have been like if she never fell in love with me.

I see her everyday. In the pressroom; in her office; and during staff. I have been on the receiving end of her witty jokes as well as her powerful hugs… before we had a real personal relationship. I have watched her do The Jackal 4 times; believe me when I tell you that it never gets old. I agree with the President’s assessment of her as a 50s movie star, so loving, so capable, 100%. Still, I think Josh’s is better…we’re the Scooby gang and she’s Daphne.

I never even watched that cartoon until she told me that. I am not much of a cartoon watcher; I know that is not hard to believe. Now we watch it together every Sunday. Only CJ got me to understand that a bit of mindless fun is essential in the world we live in. I wish I could let it creep in more.

Anyway, I was talking about life without her. A few adjectives come to mind: boring, dismal, dark, and lonely to name a few. I am not going to fool myself and say I would have found someone else. Firstly, I was not looking for love when I found it with her. Secondly, I don’t even know how to function in this 21st century mangled world of acquainting oneself with the fairer sex. See, the fairer sex…I sound like a relic from the 1940s. I’m not that old.

You want to know what’s truly funny…I would not even know the song if not for her. Billy Joel was never one of my favorite artists. I don’t even listen to music often; I am more of a reader. When I do put on records its Charlie Parker or Frank Sinatra. It is CJ who slips music into every quiet corner of her life; of our life. I used to go to her apartment in the early days. She would sit on the couch with CNN on mute and music on the stereo.

The first time I heard the song I was enthralled…and that is not a word that anyone would ever use to describe Leo McGarry. Not even as a joke. CJ was in the shower (one of the few times before or since that I did not join her). I was supposed to be in her bedroom; I was supposed to hear the song. It played from one of her CDs. _She’s got a smile that heals me. I don’t know why it is but I have to laugh when she reveals me._ God, I could not have said it better myself. No really, I could not have. _She comes to me when I’m feeling down, inspires me without a sound, she touches me and I get turned around._ Who was this woman? He knows Claudia Jean…there is no other answer.

While I can't say that I was enjoying my life as a divorced man, I can say that I never intended that status to change. She flew into my life like a whirling dervish, all red hair and long legs. I knew before Jenny walked out on me that CJ was sexy. I was very well aware of it but it did not affect me. I saw how it sometimes affected her spin boys but I thought that my age and experience had me past schoolboy crushes on girls who hardly knew you took up space on Earth.

Hell, I am glad to say I was wrong about that. I still have a crush on that woman…six years, two children, two administrations, an MS confession, and a heart attack later. She has not changed at all. She is still impish, impulsive, earnest, sexy, and smart all in the same breath. Whether she is briefing the press, running the country, or playing Candyland with our baby daughter…the word amazing is just too generic. All I can think is that _She’s Got a Way_ about her.


End file.
